Workers need to protect better than heat

He expected to change the standard temperatures of the workplace, and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today in New a report. When workers do not have sufficient protection from heat stress, their health and productivity suffers.

The agencies say that employers and legislators must take seriously if they want to keep workers safe and prosperous companies. This means finding ways to adapt to the world of warming, and pay close attention to groups that may be more at risk than others.

“Without bold coordinator procedures, thermal stress will become one of the most destructive professional risks of our time,” Joaquim Pintado Nunes, head of the branch in charge of occupational safety and health at the International Labor Organization (ILO).

More than 2.4 billion people around the world – 71 percent of the working population – suffer from heat stress at the workplace, according to the International Labor Organization estimates. Every year, 22.85 million professional injuries and 18,970 deaths are linked to excessive heat at work. The report also says that workers’ productivity decreases by 2-3 percent with each degree exceeding 20 ° C in Wet globe temperatureIt is a procedure that takes moisture and other environmental factors in mind.

Record temperatures already set new standards for people in the workplace. Last year was the most important year ever, but perhaps not for a long time The pollution of the planet’s heating continues to rise. The past decade, from 2015 to 2024, also celebrated the free books.

A healthy person in comfort can regulate the basic body temperature to between 36.5 ° C and 37.5 ° C (97.7-99.5 Fahrenheit). This becomes more difficult to do the hottest of their environment, or if it is involved in physical work or wearing equipment that limits the body’s ability to cool itself when the sweat evaporates from the skin. A person’s basic body temperature should not rise from 38 ° C (100.4F) for long periods during work attacks, says the WhO/WMO report.

The effects of thermal stress can begin moderate, which leads to rash, cramps, or fatigue from which a person can recover if he has enough time to cool, comfort and moisturize. But prolonged or severe exposure may escalate things, and can lead to a heat blow and even Nervous defect This may weaken a person’s ability to seek help.

The heat occurs to be The leadership of the weather associated with the weather All over the world. People with some chronic cases, children, and older adults who cannot organize the essential body temperature efficiently like others are more likely. The first respondents and people working in the open air or inside with the equipment that release heat (stoves or ovens, for example) facing the increasing risks.

There should be more education and awareness about heat stress in the workplace, WMO who urge. Preventive measures include warning systems to increase heat waves, similar to warnings that people may receive before other environmental disasters. Employers should plan for longer or more frequent periods, and they can redesign the uniform and workplaces to keep workers. They should also have plans for what to do in the state of heat -related emergency.

The legislators can get the ball on this work by providing policies to unify these types of solutions. In the United States, Biden Administration Proposal New protection for workers last year in an attempt to prevent diseases and heat -related deaths in the job. The heat index of 90 ° F or higher would lead to 15 -minute rest periods per few hours for some jobs, for example. But we have to see if they are The proposed measures will survive Trump administration agenda.

The biggest step for companies and policy makers to take, of course, is the cutting Fossil fuel emissions cause global warming. Otherwise, all we can do is keep annex with a height of mercury.

“The climate change reshapes the world of work,” said Bentado Nunes.